Natural and Supernatural Human Beings in African Philosophy
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Date
2019
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Faculty of Social and Management Sciences
Abstract
Ifa is believed to be the foundation of Yoruba culture. Therefore, every aspect of Yoruba life, including religion and philosophy has one link or another with Ifa. Previous studies have not related the philosophy around Odu (a code of Ifa communication) in Ifa to Odu in lbeji. This study is set to fill this gap. The current study relies substantially on Yoruba texts, Ifa corpus, panegyrics and incantations. Semiotics, which is the science of signs, is adopted as, symbolism underlies lfa divination system. The findings have revealed that Odu and hermeneutics codes of Ifa and lbeji are related. It is also revealed that, there is synergy between the philosophy in Odu-Ifa and Odu in Ibeji. Consequently, the philosophy behind the birth of Odu is related to the Yoruba philosophy on the birth of Ibeji. The study concludes that, the Yoruba philosophy behind lbeji is derived from Ifa. The study suggests one of the possibilities of the Yoruba producing the highest twinning rate around the globe.
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Keywords
Ifa, Ibeji, Odu, Yoruba language, Semiotics